David Warner gave Australia cause for concern when he limped off the SCG with a groin injury during the second ODI against India. He picked up the injury when diving to make a save early in India's chase, with team-mate Glenn Maxwell later saying it "didn't look good".
A Cricket Australia spokesperson confirmed the injury and said that Warner had gone straight for a scan.
"Hopefully the scan comes back and it's okay, but it didn't look good there," Maxwell said. "He didn't really want me to carry him off. He seemed like he was in a bit of pain."
It was in the fourth over of the Indian innings - Shikhar Dhawan punched the ball towards mid-off, where Warner came across and tumble-dived to intercept the ball. It appeared the injury took place when he rolled a second time. He took a couple of minutes to get himself to his feet and was then helped off the field by the Australia physio.
The final ODI of this series is in Canberra on Wednesday followed by three T20Is in quick succession, but the main concern for Australia would be an impact to Warner's availability for the Test series, which begins in Adelaide on December 17.
Former CA team doctor Peter Brukner suggested that in his experience, similar injuries were likely to take between four and six weeks to heal, and said that Warner would be more likely to be fit in time for the second Test at the MCG on Boxing Day than the first.
"It certainly seemed to be a significant injury, what we'd call a grade two, the fact he's not having surgery indicates he hasn't torn it off the bone or anything like that, but it was clearly more than a grade one and traditionally we'd say that was a four to six week injury if you're looking at a footballer, hopefully closer to four than to six," Brukner told SEN Radio. "It's 18 days between yesterday and the start of the first Test, so that's cutting it pretty fine.
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"Probably the odds are that he's not going to make it, but knowing Davey he'll give it a good crack and he's in superb shape and he'll do everything possible, he'll be very well looked after by the physios, David Beakley and his group. So I think he's a chance but probably the odds are against him playing the first Test - second Test should be fine, much more realistic."
In the shorter term, if Australia need a replacement opener for the final ODI and the T20Is, they would probably opt for Matthew Wade. It is understood that despite the Covid-19 protocols in place for this series, there would be the ability for Australia to draft extra players into the squad.
Earlier in the day, Warner made 83 in Australia's huge total of 389 for 4. The 142-run partnership between Warner and Aaron Finch moved them into third place in Australia's all-time list for opening pairs.
He is the second injury Australia have suffered in this series following Marcus Stoinis' side strain, which led to him being ruled out of the second game.
The Australia A match against India at Drummoyne Oval, starting December 6, has been billed as a potential trial between Joe Burns and Will Pucovski to partner Warner at the top of the Test order. However, so far there has been a lot of backing for the incumbent Burns even though Pucovski has scored back-to-back double-hundreds this season.